


Love is Blind

by jayy (spaloozey)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, Multi, and i'm just watering my plance, basically just all my favorite straight ships in one go, i have no idea what i'm doing i'm just rolling with this idea, kallura/plance solidarity, matt is a good supportive brother, pidge is blind!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-02
Updated: 2018-10-13
Packaged: 2019-07-05 20:26:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15871128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spaloozey/pseuds/jayy
Summary: Launching herself forward, Pidge pushed Lance to the ground, shielding his body with her own. She watched the grenade-like object with baited breath, unsure when it would explode. Beneath her Lance struggled vainly, reaching for his bayard in a panic."Pidge? What is it? Why'd you tackle me? Get off already I need to fight-"BANG!With a startling white flash, the grenade exploded. Only there was no heat or fire. All that came from the container was light. A flash grenade, Pidge realized. And she had been staring right at it.





	1. Blinding Light

**Author's Note:**

> I'm just dripping with blind!pidge ideas and seeing where it takes me.

"Pidge, on my six!" Lance yelled, firing his rifle at the hoard of sentry bots in front of him. "I can't get that guy from here."

 

"I got him!" Pidge responded curtly, positioning herself behind the taller boy to fire her bayard, managing to strike the sentry clean between the eyes. "Keith, where are you? We're taking heavy fire!"

 

"On my way." Pidge heard Keith's voice respond over the comms. "ETA in 20 ticks."

  
Pidge held her ground against the remaining sentries with Lance, taking down as many as she possibly could. Suddenly, a grenade-like object was thrown in their direction, and Pidge's eyes widened in alarm. "LANCE!" she screamed, "WATCH OUT!"

 

Launching herself forward, Pidge pushed Lance to the ground, shielding his body with her own. She watched the grenade-like object with baited breath, unsure when it would explode. Beneath her Lance struggled vainly, reaching for his bayard in a panic.

 

"Pidge? What is it? Why'd you tackle me? Get off already I need to fight-"   
  
BANG!

 

With a startling white flash, the grenade exploded. Only there was no heat or fire. All that came from the container was light.  _ A flash grenade _ , Pidge realized. And she had been staring right at it.

 

Light seared through every vein in Pidge's eyes. She screamed, grabbing at her face in an attempt to ease the pain. Where the light scorched her pupils, spots danced in front of her eyes, dizzying her. She breathed in through her nostrils heavily, senses overloaded, and vision dipping in and out of focus as raw colors disoriented her.

 

"Lance.. Lance? Where are you?" In her panic she had propelled herself off of him, and now she wasn't sure where she was. The sound of laser fire in the distance sent her hairs on end, and she scrambled over the cool steel floor in a frenzy, searching for the boy and hoping he was safe.

 

"Pidge! Are you hurt?" his voice responded, "Keith will be here in a matter of ticks, just hold on. Stay behind me and cover my six." 

 

"I- I'm fine, but Lance, I can't-"

 

BOOM. A loud explosion to their left caught their attention. As a familiar roar filled the gunship, Pidge's heart swelled, and she drew herself up toward the sound. They could make it out alive now.

 

"Keith" Pidge cried out in relief. She hurried toward the sound of the lion's earlier roar, guided by the suction it created and the general flow of the ship's air. She could tell Lance was on her tail by the laser fire behind her and the echo of his footsteps on the floor. 

 

Pidge stumbled a bit upon entry, but somehow, she made it into the cockpit of the Black Lion in one piece. Sitting against the back panel, she heaved for breath, winded by all the fighting and running. 

 

"Nice timing Keith." Lance commented, letting his helmet fall to the lion's floor. "Now we can head home."   
  
_ Home _ .  Pidge thought. Earth was a long ways away from here, but the Black Lion could get them there in 20 dobashes, tops. Their mission to intercept the string of Galra cruisers that had been sighted several systems over had gone smoothly, and now they were certain Earth was safe from harm for a good while longer. They could relax and focus on building up the Garrison's fleet for the remaining weeks to come.

 

As they flew away from the final battle cruiser though, a pit began forming in Pidge's stomach. The darkness all around her was omnipresent, and seemed to be closing in on her where she sat. Sweat dripped idly down her chin, and her breath came rapid and shallow. She propped herself up on one knee, not sure if she could balance correctly in complete darkness, and cleared her throat. 

 

"Lance-" she began unsteadily, "I think there's a bit of a problem." She was trying to situate herself against the wall so she could stand all the way up, but she utterly failed to locate the wall. She flailed in a bit of a panic, before Lance rushed over to help her. She couldn't see his concerned expression, but his voice definitely gave his worry away.

 

"Woah- easy there! What's wrong?" he asked.

 

"..I can't see anything." Pidge breathed. 

 

Lance forgot to take his next breath. "What?!" he remarked, a bit shocked. He lost his grip on Pidge in his surprise and without the extra arm to steady herself she fell back against the wall. 

 

Pidge huffed, "I  _ said _ , I can't see."

 

Setting down his bayard, Lance let Pidge slide back down again, crouching down beside her near the Lion's back wall. "Can't see like, what? Does that mean you're only seeing darkness? Or.. whiteness? Or are you just pulling my chain? Give me a hint here, Pidge."

 

Pidge ground her teeth, more to steel herself against her own anxiety than out of irritation. "It's.. just darkness. I can't see you or Keith at all."

 

"Huh." Lance whispered, "Are you sure?"

  
"Yes Lance!" Pidge hissed,  "I'm quite quiznaking sure." 

 

Pidge's features glazed over into that classic "I'm so done with you" look that Lance had grown to love over the past year. He nearly chuckled at it, but he knew that'd only make Pidge more mad.   
  
"Alright then.." Lance said. He raised a hand and began waving it in front of her face, noting with slight unease how her eyes didn't follow him, or look toward him in annoyance like they usually would. Lance already knew the answer to his upcoming question, but he asked it aloud anyway. "..Can you see my hand?" 

 

"No." Pidge muttered.

 

Lance let out a sigh. "You're definitely blind then." he noted intelligently.

 

From behind him, Keith sourly reminded them of their situation. "Guys, you know we don't have the cryopods anymore right? We only have Earth's outdated medical technology to rely on, and maybe Allura's magic, if we're lucky. So if this isn't a temporary blindness, Pidge.. This could become a real serious problem for team Voltron."

 

Pidge glared in his general direction, missing by a couple of feet. "I  _ know _ that Keith! I'm not crippled or anything! Even if this doesn't wear off by tomorrow night, I'm sure I can learn to live with one less sense." 

 

Keith turned around in his seat to face her, scowl set on his face. "Live? Sure. But fight as the green paladin of voltron? No way. If you can't see your enemies they'll kill you before you even realize what's happening. No, you need to get your eyes fixed. And when we get back, that's just what we're gonna have Allura do."

 

Keith's words rang with an edge of finality, and Pidge hushed up at that. She knew he was right. If she couldn't see, she MIGHT be able to pilot the Green Lion, but fighting off enemy combatants and hacking into secret Galra bases would be impossible. She wouldn't be able to see the codes on a screen or the moves her enemies were about to commit to, and that would absolutely cripple her. She'd just have to wait it out and hope Allura could heal her.

 

"Alright.." Pidge sighed. She laid her head back against the wall behind her, and enjoyed the coolness on her sweaty skin. "Let's just hope Allura has that magic cure."

 

\---

 

  
Keith landed Black a couple yards south of the Garrison base, which was smack dab in the middle of the desert. He pulled his bayard free and informed the rest of the team that they'd arrived with a curt, "We're here," before all-but-flying down Black's mouth and out into the desert where Allura was waiting. 

  
Pidge snickered quietly, rolling her helmet between her thumbs and putting it back on her head. "He has no chill when it comes to Allura." she commented.

 

Lance laughed. "You got that right. He has no chill in general though." he added, offering Pidge his arm to help her up.

  
Pidge, being blind now, completely missed his visual gesture and started to stand herself up, when her head met Lance's left arm with a loud smack that she absolutely wasn't expecting. She toppled, careening headfirst into Lance's chest before hurtling towards the ground together with him.   
  


"OUCH!" Pidge yelped. "Lance, what the heck? Why were you in my way?"

 

Lance, blessing the stars that Pidge couldn't see his red face, retorted hastily. "I was offering you a hand to help you up!"

 

"And how did you expect me to SEE that?" she grumbled. "I'm BLIND."   
  
"I D-" Lance half started on a retort, but then it clicked. "Oh." His face turned twice as red as it was before, and he fumbled his legs out from under the small girl, coughing into his palm. "Sorry about that."

 

Pidge sighed, and rose to her feet uneasily. Lance fumbled and tried to help her up, but she pushed him away.  "I can handle standing up, Lance," she told him.

 

"I know, but if you.. if you need any other help just let me know." he stuttered quietly. "I'm here for you." 

 

Pidge sighed, she couldn't stay mad at him with that genuinity of his. She knew full well that  she'd probably need it, too. "Thanks." she said warmly, "Now come on, let's get going before the two lovebirds start making out without us."

 

Keith and Allura were already waiting for them several yards away, closer to the Garrison's entrance. They were whispering and snickering amongst themselves, Allura blushing and giggling as Keith.. appeared to make some sort of joke. But when Lance and Pidge shuffled closer she had already composed herself and started to jog over. 

  
"There you two are! I heard one of you was blinded during the mission, dare I hope it was Lance?" she teased.

 

"Hey!" Lance whined. "That's mean, Allura."

 

Pidge chuckled and hit her taller counterpart in the ribs with her elbow. "Nah, only tiny little nerds like me get ailed with vision problems." Feeling that Lance was still upset at the princess's comment, she added, "Besides, we can't very well have our sharpshooter losing his vision, can we?"

 

Allura chuckled, "I suppose not. But it's not so good that our hacker has lost her vision either. Come closer Pidge, let me take a look."

 

Cautiously, Pidge took a few steps forward, hoping she wouldn't trip over a rock or somebody's foot on the way over. She made it a few feet before nearly running into Allura. Luckily the older paladin had guessed that would happen stopped her short with an outstretched arm.

 

She closed her eyes as she felt the altean's fingertips make contact with her face, and held her breath as the princess began doing her thing. She couldn't see the glow of the princesses's body, but she could feel the power radiating through her hands. It coursed through her body, concentrating behind her eyes, and soothing the burns etched into her retinas. Pidge let out a small sigh, content with Allura's magic touch, and Allura's arms relaxed. The healing went well for several minutes, and Pidge thought Allura might almost be done.. Until she heard her gasp. 

 

"What's wrong?" she asked. She tried to open her eyes to see, but a sudden wave of pain stole that chance from her, forcing her to her knees.

  
"PIDGE!" Allura shouted, but Pidge could barely hear her. The pain coursing through her eyes now was excruciating, like a dozen searing hot needles plunging through her eye-sockets. They seared through nearly every nerve inside her skull, sending her into a vortex of agony. Pidge screamed. Her vision blurred with a bright red, the closest thing to sight she'd experienced in a good thirty minutes, but it would only brighten and intensify with each stab of pain. She crumpled onto the ground, writhing and screaming, until the pain was too much to bear. The other paladins gathered around her in panic, Lance holding her up in his arms, shouting her name. She could barely hear it past the sea of red that enveloped her and shrouded her in pain, but nonetheless, she managed to whisper his name back, just before the sea engulfed her and drowned her in its depths. 

 

"Lance.. "


	2. Two Pair

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge awakes, and Matt confronts her.
> 
> And I continue to suck at summarizations.

"Pidge.. Pidge..!" Katie Holt opened her eyes, responding to the name. There was nothing but darkness still, but she could hear the breathing of five others around her, and the cool silk of satin sheets underneath her. She let her other senses take over, and turned to the voice that had been calling her name.

"Lance..?" she asked, sitting up slowly. "Where am I? What happened?"   
  
"You passed out after the healing, so we took you to the hospital. Something went wrong, and your eyes started to bleed.."   
  
"Bleed?" she gasped, putting one hand over her eyes where the pain had been radiating earlier. "I thought for sure the healing would work.. What happened?"   
  
Allura's sullen voice answered from her left, and Pidge turned toward it. "I think it was Galran magic. That light wasn't just a concoction meant to blind its victim, it was also a spell. A curse meant to permanently blind whoever sees it. We won't be able to repair your eyes with magic.. At least, not mine.."

Pidge nodded. "So we need Galran magic to fix this." 

The room went silent. No one knew where they were going to get Galran magic. Only the druids, and haggar had the ability to use the stuff, and none of them have been seen for over three years.

Pidge sighed, drawing her legs into herself. "Guess I'm going to be blind for a while then.."

Someone put their hand on her shoulder, and a husky voice from her far left gave a reply. Hunk. "We'll cover you until we can find the magic to fix your eyes. You don't need to worry. We'll find Haggar and her druids in no time."   
  
"I.." Pidge gritted her teeth, "I can't just let you fight without me! How are you going to form voltron? Who's going to pilot green?" 

The room went silent for a second time, until someone in the hallway shifted, and walked forward. "I will, Pidge." 

Pidge tensed. "Matt?!" 

Matt came into the room and moved one of the chairs up to Pidge's bed. He sat down, and the rest of the room's occupants took this as a cue to leave. Pidge listened to them go with an uneasy feeling trickling into her stomach, and she took one of Matt's hands with that unease sitting tersely on her tongue. 

"Matt.. You can't-" Pidge began.

"I can and I will." Matt replied. 

"You'd be in so much danger-"

"The same danger you've put yourself through all these months? I think it's my turn to handle it." Matt insisted, "I've already been in much greater dangers than this, and I've lived through every second of it. I'll live through this too." 

"Matt.." Pidge breathed, not sure what to say. He made some good points. 

"Katie, I'll be fine. Trust me." Matt said softly.

Pidge sighed. She knew she couldn't dissuade him, but she had to try. The fact was that Matt was the only viable candidate TO replace her. He had the same coding skills she had, he has the same inquisitive blood Pidge does, and being her brother there was no doubt Green would accept him. 

The only one that couldn't accept it was Pidge. 

Pidge had spent months fighting as Voltron's left arm. She was their shield, their camouflage, their hope of finding answers and their gateway to technology. She loved what she had become. She lived for it now.

And more than anything, she loved her newfound family in Voltron. She would do anything for them, even if it meant throwing her own life away.

But she couldn't let Matt throw away his.

Pidge sucked in a breath. "What if.. what if you didn't have to replace me entirely? 

Matt paused. "What do you mean?"   
  
"I may be blind but I'm not totally powerless.." Pidge said slowly, "And there is still one way I could see."

Her brother scooted forward in his seat, eager now. Pidge could hear it. "You don't mean.."

"I do." Pidge smirked. "I'm going to fly the Green Lion, the way she was meant to be piloted."

If Pidge could see, she would know that there were literal stars in Matt's eyes, but the excitement in his voice was enough for her for now. "I love you, Pidge, you tiny little genius!" he said. He grabbed her by the scruff and rubbed his fist into her scalp playfully, and Pidge laughed with tears in her eyes. This is what she was meant to do, she just knew it.

"But I'm going to be co-pilot, no ifs, ands, or buts." Matt said tersely.

Pidge smiled. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

  
  


\---

 

Matt stood apprehensively at the feet of Pidge's giant, metallic green lion. His awe was clear as day, but Pidge couldn't see it, even if she had half the attention span to tear away from her laptop's screen right now.

She couldn't see the device set in front of her, but she had rigged it so that she could hear it, more efficiently than normal text-to-voice options could allow. Her device now made simple little sounds in a coded language, which only she understood, that was built for speed-of-listening over range of vocabulary. Hunk helped her with the image and video processing so that her machine could decipher the main elements of a video or image and instantly transcribe it into an audio snippet that she could decipher in seconds. This would make it much easier to code like she normally coded; fast, reactionary, and illegal. 

It was perfect. 

Matt made his way over to his little sister, pride etched into every bit of his features. "You finally got that thing working?" he asked.

"Like a well-oiled machine." Pidge shot back. "With this, I can help you code from inside Green if you ever need any help. And listen to music or watch youtube videos if I get bored sitting around in space."   
  
Matt chuckled. "You'll probably see more action than I will. And we don't even know if we'll need you to pilot green in the first place. We haven't seen Galra action since your mission two weeks ago."

"True.. But we're going to have to find Haggar if I ever wanna see again. And that means actively engaging with the rest of the Galran hierarchy. We're gonna see some big fights, whether we want to, or not."

Matt nodded slowly. Then realized she couldn't see him doing that, "You're right of course. All the more reason to have you and I pilot green.

"Yeah.." Pidge trailed off.  "Say, have you seen Lance? I haven't seen him since I woke up in the hospital last week. It's like he's been.. avoiding me or something."

"No, can't say I have. But I heard from Allura that him and Hunk have been hanging out in Yellow pretty frequently. I think they're playing video games or something." Matt offered.

Pidge's brows furrowed. "..Oh." was all she could manage. 

"I can go and look for him if you want. I'm sure he's in Yellow beating your old high score right now." Matt grinned, and Pidge could practically hear it in his voice. She winced slightly.

"No. That's alright. I'll just.. go see him myself later. Thanks though Matt." 

"No problem Pidge." Silence consumed Pidge as Matt left. She couldn't play video games with Lance anymore. That fact hit her harder than she cared to admit. 

"Being blind sucks." she muttered miserably, bringing her knees up to her chin and curling into a ball. "What did I do to deserve this?"

The darkness didn't answer her, but the warm breeze drifting through the sand tussled her hair as if to say, "It'll be alright." 

_ It isn't alright right now, though. _ Pidge thought, and let a few salty tears slip down her cheeks. She cried for what felt like hours before sleep took her up in its arms, and laid her worries to rest.


	3. Some Adjusting Required

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge deals with her newfound disability, and Lance is keen on helping her.

Pidge woke with a start, slick with sweat. She was in her room back in the Garrison dorms, clutching her pillow tightly and still swimming with dreams, which had all been very unusual over the last month. After losing her vision, she only dreamt in snippets of sight, where fuzzy images and words flashed in front of her eyes, dizzying and confusing and unsettlingly fast. It was all very disorienting, and Pidge wasn't sure to make of the images she saw in her sleep. There were Galra forces.. A strange field full of bright blue flowers. A lone Galra male in a flowing red cloak, sitting contrasted against the sea of blue. A druid ritual, with the familiar figure of the witch Haggar situated right in the middle. And lots of flashes of screaming aliens, glowing eyes, and a woman's voice soothing a baby to sleep.

She had no idea what any of it meant.

Pidge sat up slowly, still clutching her pillow tightly against her chest as she took stock of her room. It was rather warm and humid inside, so she had a fan running to push cool air onto her bed and sweaty skin. Pidge hated the desert heat. It made working on a computer hot and taxing, and ran the risk of having her technology overheating as well. Which her computer nearly did as she sat up watching (or at least listening to) disney movies last night.

PIdge sighed and extricated herself from the bed, moving sheets and blankets around until her bed was neatly made again. Or at least, she thought it was. It was kind of hard to tell things like that now that she was blind. She had to sort of guess at the placement of the fold in her sheets and the pillow at the head of the mattress, and she'd tripped over loose wires and cords several times as she worked, not making matters any easier.

Still sweating profusely, Pidge made her way into the shower, removing her clothes carefully and placing them on the counter. She pushed her way through into the shower area and pulled the curtain after her. Taking a few extra seconds to find the knob on the wall, she turned on the water, and let it run over her bod. She sighed as her muscles loosened and relaxed under its warm caress. 

"Alright.. This time I'll get it right." She muttered, grabbing through the air in search of her shower rack. Her fingertips brushed the edge of it, and she pushed her hand up the side of the metal frame. She could feel each of the bottles inside of it, and decidedly pulled out the first one on the left.

The last few times she had showered, she had accidentally put conditioner in first, not knowing which bottle was which, and then put body wash in her hair directly afterwards. She had to rearrange the bottles so she knew what order they were in, otherwise she'd have no idea what was what.

After her shower, Pidge deposited her dirty clothes in a hamper and dug around her drawers for what  _ felt  _ like the garrison uniform, and put it on. She'd be intermingling with the rest of the garrison today, having been discharged from the hospital two weeks ago, and given plenty of time to recuperate. Hopefully, she wouldn't have to interact with anyone though, since it wasn't really her strong suit to begin with.

Pidge ducked through the door to her room and headed toward the kitchens, hoping she was going the right direction and that she wouldn't run into anything on her way down. After a few minutes of brisk walking she finally heard some murmuring voices ahead, and slowed her pace. She had made it successfully, and didn't appear to be very late.

"Hey Pidge!!" A cheerful voice startled her, and footsteps echoed down the hallway to her left, approaching her. "Good to see you up and moving around!"

"Lance? And.. Hunk?" Pidge guessed by the extra pair of footsteps following behind him. 

"Yep, that's me." Hunk confirmed.

Pidge smiled. "What's up you guys?"   
  
"We were heading to get breakfast of course! Same as you." Lance replied, "How about I save us a table and you get the food? The cafeteria fills up fast these days."

"Sure, sounds good," Pidge responded, "What do you want?"

Pidge took orders, and then let Lance guide her to the back of the line. He took off with a smile and a quick "See you soon!" before leaving Pidge alone with her task.. of waiting for the line to move. Pidge groaned internally, suddenly wishing she had taken up the table-finding duty instead of the food grabbing. Running over the things Lance and Hunk had listed in her mind, she stood behind whoever was in front of her, waiting to hear them shuffle forward. It wouldn't be hard to notice, since whoever it was was chattering so loudly she bet the staff members in the next building over could hear them.

So Pidge zoned out, following the voice on auto-pilot. She thought about food, her tummy rumbling. She had really come at a good time. She wasn't expecting to meet up with Lance and Hunk while she was eating, so this was a stroke of good luck. She stepped forward again as the voice moved ahead, but was met with the back of someone else; someone tall and bulky. She hit her nose against their uniform.

"Ouch!" she exclaimed, stepping back a bit, "I'm sorr-"

"What the heck dude, are you blind?!" The male in front of her spat, making Pidge grimace and take an extra step back.

"I am blind actually, yeah." she stated. Then, knowing she'd regret it, she added, "What does that make you? Stupid?"

The boy in front of her growled, and Pidge took another step back for safety's sake. She heard the crowd murmur around her, interested in what was happening, and Pidge swallowed, not sure she should be starting a fight in her state.

Before anything could happen though, Lance stepped in.   
  
"Leave her alone, slimeball." he all but growled back at the boy, forcing his way between the offender and Pidge protectively, "Picking fights with little blind girls has to be the lowest you can get."

"Girl?" The boy asked. His tone changed. "What is she gay?"

Pidge could practically FEEL the temperature in the room rise. Lance was big time mad. "YOU CAN'T JUST AS-"

"ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, BREAK IT UP!" A teacher seemed to materialized to their left at the sound of Lance's swearing, shooing students away and making for the three of them. "No more bickering, get back in line, all of you!" He stood over the three of them with a sour expression, and added, "And you three are lucky I'm not sending you to the principal's office for causing a commotion. Get your breakfast and move along quietly, or I WILL send you there."

All three cadet's hands shot into a salute, and the teacher left without another word.   
  
Pidge tried to say what she had meant to say earlier. "Sorry man.. Didn't mean to run into you.. Or call you stupid."

The boy huffed, clearly still a bit mad, but willing to put a lid on his temper for now. "Yeah. S'fine. Shouldn't have gone atcha like that.. Or called you gay." he mumbled, before sauntering off after the rest of the line.

Pidge couldn't see Lance squint after him, but she could hear him forcefully blowing air through his nostrils. She turned towards him curiously, absorbing every little sound and breath he made.   


"Just so that guy doesn't bother you anymore, let me take the food orders. You can go find the table Hunk's sitting at and wait for me." He paused, then realized he should add some directions, "It's over by the end of the left wall, near the salad carts."

Pidge's eyes widened, and her heart warmed a bit at the directions. "Are you sure? I don't think that guy will cause me anymore trouble-"

"Just do it." Lance said. Pidge could feel his anger residing, but he still held bitterness in his tone. "I'm too restless to go sit back down now." he huffed.   
  
"Alright.." Pidge responded, and cautiously complied. "Need me to repeat the orders for you?" 

"No." Lance replied, "I've got them."

Pidge nodded and meandered down the hallway toward the cafeteria entrance. A small blush warmed her cheeks and she tugged her sleeves over her hands in a stupor. Lance had just protected of her.. Why was he being like this all of a sudden?

_ And why did that make her so happy? _  
  


 

\---

 

Pidge hit the ground with a loud "OOF." She could almost swear that spots of light spun before her eyes, but they were gone as soon as they came. Before her, the Garrison sentry she had been fighting whirred it's gears, regurgitating one of its pre-programmed responses. "Victories, 0, Losses, 29. Fight again?"

Pidge grit her teeth, pushing herself up against the hard ground. "Yes, again." she spat, staggering back into her fighting stance and facing the sentry again with determined, unseeing eyes. "I'm ready."

 

The air whooshed as an attack missed her face by an inch. She shivered as it passed, having moved just a centimeter to the right in the nick of time. She parried with a thrust into the space to her lower left, estimating that the sentry's pivot leg was stationed there. She definitely clipped it with her bayard, but she didn't hit it square in the knee like she'd hoped. Instead of the knee buckling, it simply wobbled, and the sentry computed its next attack and struck her full-force in the back with its pole before she could attempt another move.

Pidge felt all air leave her lungs as her body was forced into the cold linoleum floor. She spat up her last breath, coughing as she felt her bruises ache all around her body. She caught her breath for a few moments, before sitting up, hearing someone enter the room to her right.

"Who's there?" she called out, pulling her bayard up with her as she stood on shaky feet. 

"It's Lance." a boy replied, "Have you been practicing in here all this time? Matt's been looking for you for hours."

"Oh.. uh, yeah." Pidge admitted sheepishly. "I just wanted to memorize some Galra fighting patterns, but so far.. I haven't had much luck getting used to them."

Lance's voice was surprised as he responded, "Practicing Galra patterns huh? That must be pretty hard for you now. I don't know what I'd do without my sight.." he trailed off.

Pidge huffed in irritation, shutting off her bayard. "You'd probably die, Lance."

Lance laughed. "I probably would! You're doing much better than I ever could without eyes." 

Pidge felt a blush rise to her cheeks. She looked down and away from him, hoping to hide it. "Thanks.." she mumbled,

"Want me to give you a hand?" he asked.

Pidge looked back up, surprise marking her features. "I- I guess that'd be cool, sure, but- Weren't you gonna play video games with Hunk today?" she asked, trying to keep the jealousy out of her tone.

"We were.. but then Shay came in and demanded to learn how to play. Honestly those two are so cute together. I just left and let them take the video games over." Lance laughed. "Besides, it's not the same without you there! You're like the video game master. I can't wait til you get back your sight so we can start playing again, cause I'm definitely gonna beat you at Killbot Phantasm 2."

Pidge grinned, her energy starting to renew, "You wish. You can't even beat me in hand-to-hand combat."

Though Pidge couldn't see it, Lance's grin mirrored Pidge's, and his intrigue at the challenge leveled in his voice. "I wouldn't be saying that now that you're blind Pidge, I could beat you with my hands tied behind my back!" 

Pidge snickered. "I doubt it!"

"Why don't you try me?" Lance sneered.

"You're on." Pidge retorted, activating her bayard and setting it to a mild stun.

Lance jogged over to where their training armor lay against the wall and started putting it on, swallowing his nerves at having to take his clothes off in front of Pidge.

_ She's blind now, you dolt! It's fine _ . But the blush that came up to his ears never went away as he changed, the fact that he was changing in front of the girl he liked was an ever-present thought at the forefront of his mind. He couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief once he finally got all his armor on, and sauntered back toward where Pidge was waiting.

"Alright Pidge, time to d-d-d-duel!" Lance laughed wickedly.

Pidge snickered, "And they say I'M the nerd." she laughed, rolling her useless eyes. "Come at me blue-boy!" 

The two began to spar, Lance firing shots at Pidge with his bayard and Pidge reacting by activating her arm-shield. She took a few shots before hooking her arm around the shield and aiming her bayard at the spot she was sure Lance was heading in. He wasn't making it easy for her, strafing to her right side as he fired his bayard to try and get an angle on her. Because he was sprinting, though, Pidge could clearly hear his footsteps, and feel the angle of his shots change as he swerved around her right side.

Concentrating hard on the angle and trajectory, Pidge fired her bayard, managing to smack Lance hard with it in the stomach. Not wasting the victory, Pidge fired her electricity as well, hearing the boy react with a loud scream. She smirked. This battle was going to be easy.

Hooking her left arm around the bayard's cord, Pidge sprang forward, letting the bayard's string of electricity retract so as to propel her forward even faster. She hit Lance under the chin with a high-momentum fist, stunning him. As he lay on the ground, Pidge hovered over him victoriously, smirking down at him. 

  
"The blind girl wins." She sings.

Lance sat up with a groan, eying Pidge with a squint. "How'd you do that?" he mumbled. "It's like you haven't even changed at all!"

Pidge deactivated her bayard with a timeless smirk. "Your movements are easy to predict. Are you sure you don't need to practice more, instead of me?"

Lance sat himself up with a grumble, taking Pidge's hand with dismay. "I was going easy on you.." He lied. 

In reality, he had just underestimated her. He'd assumed she'd take a defensive position, as she did at first, and that he could get in her blind spot.. and since she was now blind, that was literally everywhere. But he forgot that Pidge had sharp ears, and even sharper senses, now that she'd lost one. He'd been careless, but he wouldn't underestimate her again.

"One more time!" he insisted, grabbing up his bayard and taking position near the wall. Pidge's grin widened, and she got into her stance.

Above them, a spectator was smiling broadly at the display. Matt, Pidge's older brother, rested his chin on his palm, eyes half-lidded and content at watching his sister duke it out with her crush.

"You have it bad for him don't you?" he whispered, smirking at his own comment. "I hope he doesn't steal you away completely, I still want some quality time with my sister after all." he silently chuckled.

Forgetting his earlier yearning to see her and practice their flying patterns, Matt sauntered off to go find his own girlfriend, a wide grin plastered on his face. He'd have to practice co-piloting with Pidge another time. 

  
  


\----

  
  


Pidge let out a deep sigh. Lance had done a number on her during their practice. New bruises and aches were plaguing her entire body now as she lumbered down the long Garrison halls, but she didn't mind much. She was pleased with how much progress she'd made. Being able to fend off Lance whilst still blind was a mighty feat indeed, and she had improved a lot during their practice. Lance had knocked her off her feet in the second battle, and Pidge had stunned him again in the third. Again and again they fought, until Pidge and Lance were both panting on the ground, tied for victories and losses.

Pidge was content with that, she really was. Given that Lance was a long-range fighter by default, Pidge would have the upperhand normally. But blinded, she should have fallen way behind. Instead, she matched him equally, fighting on the same ground. And Pidge was proud of that.

What she was not proud of, however, was her inability to see, still. Fighting in a great open hall was one thing, but navigating a labyrinth of dormitories without sight or the ability to read the maps was starting to prove difficult. She let out a frustrated breath as she rounded a corner and was greeted with yet another dead end. "Quiznak!" she cursed, doubling back the other way. She thought she was near the kitchens, but she wasn't sure which direction to head in to get to them. The halls were all a mess.

Before she could start heading down the other side of the hall, however, a dull pain begin to throb behind her eyes, and she hissed, sliding down the wall to her right. Suddenly, her vision flickered to life, and she gasped, eyes widening as she took in the scene around her.

It wasn't the galaxy garrison.

Instead of the well-lit gray halls of the Garrison base, she saw purple walls, and purple lights. Where she expected to see Garrison technology, she saw only Galran tech, piping its way through the halls with an eerie, extraterrestrial light.

Pidge held her breath, unsure what was going on or why she was suddenly inside a Galra cruiser. Had she passed out? Was she being kidnapped? Why was her sight back all of a sudden?   
  
Pidge didn't know the answers, so she pushed off of her knees and forged her way down the hall to try and find out. No sentries seemed to be on guard anywhere. The halls were empty and quiet.. and very long. Her vision wavered for a moment as the lights on the wall flickered, and suddenly a familiar voice echoed it's way down the hall.

"The green one..? How fortunate. We will have to make haste in taking advantage of this situation." 

Pidge's tensed. She knew that voice. It was Haggar's. What has she been doing all these years? What was she planning? Pidge snuck across the floor silently, hoping to hear more, but before she could get very far, the ground fell out from underneath her, and she screamed. The dim purple lights overhead grew distant and blurry as she fell, and after exhausting a good minute of air from her lungs screaming into the darkness, it finally enveloped her completely, silencing her wails. 

"Ah!" Pidge jolted into awareness, hitting her head against something hard in front of her. 

"Ow!" the something complained. "Pidge, what the heck?"   
  


"Hunk?" Pidge asked, looking all around in hopes of seeing the Garrison walls. But all she saw was darkness yet again. She sighed, and turned back toward her companion. "What happened? What are you doing out here?"   
  
"I could ask you the same question Pidge! What were you doing sleeping in the middle of the hallway? I walked out of the Kitchens and found you lying on the floor!"

"..Um.. well I got lost.." Pidge admitted slowly, before gradually picking up speed and plowing through the rest of her sentence in a panic, "but then I got this strange headache and suddenly I could SEE! And there were weird purple walls, like I was in a Galra cruiser, and I heard haggar's voice and something about green and then I fell through the floor and lost my vision again and now I'm here." She took a deep breath at the end of her sentence, not realizing how much she needed the air.

  
"Pidge.. What the quiznak?" Hunk replied angrily. "That makes absolutely NO sense!"

"I KNOW!" Pidge whined, curling up into a ball and wailing into her knees. "And ever since that flash grenade blinded me I've been having the strangest dreams! Like I can see flashes of images, but they're just jumbled all together and make NO sense! And I don't know what to do Hunk.. I'm just scared." Pidge cried, tears spilling over her cheeks and into her lap.

"Aw buddy.. Aw man don't cry. Come here." Hunk said, pulling Pidge into the big, warm embrace of a classic Hunk Hug. Pidge blubbered like a seal and sobbed uncontrollably into his side, wetting the poor Yellow paladin's shirt. 

After a good ten minutes of indulging in the Hunk's embrace, Pidge pulled back, wiping her eyes with her sleeve.  "I'm sorry Hunk.. I guess, I just needed to let that all out. Being blind has just been.. so frustrating. And all the dreams and weird magical crap really doesn't help." 

Hunk nodded in understanding, unbeknownst to Pidge. "I believe it. Come on, why don't you come into the Kitchen and I'll make you some cookies? I'm sure you're probably starving after that training session with Lance."

Pidge narrowed her eyes. "How did you know I was training with Lance?"

"I knew YOU were going training, and as soon Lance left Yellow I knew he'd go join you. He's been worried sick over you for quintents now! You're like all he talks about anymore. Even more so now that you've come back from that mission. " 

Pidge's cheeks flared up, and she bit the inside of her cheek. "There's no way Lance would talk about me that much." she stated dubiously. "All he ever talks about is Allura and any other pretty girls he comes in contact with.."

Hunk smiled. "Maybe before, but for the last few months, it's all been about you."

Pidge went bright red. She stood straight up suddenly, rigid as a washboard. "I think it's time we started making those cookies!" she demanded suddenly.

Hunk laughed, amused that Pidge.exe had stopped working. "Alright, alright, cookies. I gotcha." He stood up slowly and took Pidge by the hand, leading her into the Kitchen with a smile. She didn't pull away from him. She was too busy wondering how much Lance had talked about her and what he had said.


	4. Blind Squared

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge finally takes the Green Lion out for a spin, and gets a bit of a shock when she returns..

Matt's irritation was permeating through the ship. It grew off him in waves, itching at the back of Pidge's neck. It was making it hard for her to concentrate. "Matt, could you please stop sulking? I told you, I've been busy." 

"Busy sparring with your  _ boyfriend _ ." Matt sung.

"Lance is not- You can't just call him- We were just practicing!" Pidge sputtered out, not sure where to begin with that statement.    


Matt laughed. "I'm just teasing Pidge~ You guys do hang together an awful lot though.. It's almost making me jeaaaalous." 

Pidge blushed furiously. "Shut up, man. Let me concentrate."   


Matt did indeed shut up, and Pidge closed her sightless eyes, listening to the Green Lion's hums. She hadn't been able to test her theory yet, but if she failed here, she'd have to let Matt completely take over.. and she wasn't ready to accept that.

"C'mon.. C'mon.." She muttered, grip tightening on the joysticks. "Speak to me green.. Let me see through you."

She thought of all the good times Green and her had together. Finding her in that tangle of trees on that alien planet.. Connecting with her for the first time and bursting out to where a smiling Shiro was waiting.. Discovering the connective power of nature and unlocking her Lion's true abilities on planet Olkarion.. Forming a small blade together with red and fighting off the Altean robot..

Pidge let these memories surge through her, and fill her with a familiar power. Green's hums deepened, vibrating through her very being. She felt Green begin to open the connection with her, and she eased back into her seat as she let her lion merge their thoughts and feelings together. When she was done, she opened her eyes slowly, and saw through the yellow orbs of her lion for the first time in a month. The stark blue horizon and pale brown desert landscape met her with an overwhelming expression of colors, and Pidge gasped, feeling tears loose down her cheeks. 

"It's beautiful.." she murmured, and she could hear Matt shift behind her, coming over to touch her shoulder comfortingly.

"It is." he said, "And now you can see it any day you want through Green." 

Pidge nodded, wiping the tears from her own unseeing eyes. "Yeah.." she sniffed. Then: "Get strapped in Matt, we're going for a ride!"

Pidge really let loose. All those days couped up in her room, and in her own mind, really took a toll on her. She'd missed Green, and getting to fly with her like this again.. it was more than amazing.

Pidge wasn't really supposed to go further than their solar system, that was a strict order, so she kept to the asteroid fields between them and Mars. She dodged and weaved tirelessly, ignoring Matt's protests in the back seat as she put them through G-forces well beyond what any other ship could pull through. Matt was crying hysterically, and Pidge laughed, settling down as her adrenaline finally died out.

"Alright.. alright." she said, trying to hold in a laugh, "Let's head back." 

"Finally.." Matt sighed, "How am I supposed to co-pilot for real if you move like that?"

Pidge smirked, "You're just gonna have to get used to it. I fly much sharper turns when we're battling the galra."

Matt grimaced, and Pidge laughed, tugging Green around the edge of Mars to shoot them straight back down to Earth. For the first time in weeks, Pidge's lungs felt clear and her head didn't feel woozy. Before them, the great blue expanse of earth, swirling with clouds over dotted landscapes, caught Pidge's breath in her throat. It was always so beautiful.. And Pidge was more than grateful that her Lion's eyes let her see it again.

She touched down just outside the Garrison, and let Matt out near their tech-base. Pidge lowered her hands off the joysticks, but hesitated to leave her seat. She could still see through Green's eyes.. The beautiful landscape before her, and the plush white clouds hovering in the air.. She didn't want to give this up just yet.

To her left, the Garrison base stood starkly against the desert landscape, new particle generators marking every 20 yards along the radius of the grounds. Pidge and Matt's things were scattered all over the ground at the Lion's feet. This is where she hooked the Lion up to do tests, so of course most of her tech was here. The rest was lumped together in the storage closet she called a bedroom. Garrison dorms honestly weren't very big..

She watched Matt as he exited her Lion's mouth, sighing as she saw her brother's face again for the first time in a month. His hair was so long now.. Sweeping down his back in a long, brown ponytail. He kept it that way so it didn't hinder his fighting or get caught in his cloak. But Pidge personally thought he should just cut it off. At this rate.. it'd get longer than her hair was before the Garrison. She missed her long hair. She wished Lance could've seen it. 

_ Maybe I should grow mine out too _ .. She thought.

" _ Paladin! _ " Green's voice suddenly surged through her head, startling her. Pidge's eyes widened. She had never actually heard Green speak before, just show her images, or emotions, through their mind link. 

"Green..?" she asked meekly, "What is it?"

_ "I'm detecting Galra energy from inside the base. We need to investigate."  _ Green urged.

Pidge hardened at the words. Green couldn't enter the Garrison base, but Pidge could. "I'm on it!" she insisted, rushing to remove her seatbelt and all-but-flying out of her seat. She hurtled down the back hatch and out into the desert in a whirlwind. Miraculously, she didn't trip over any of her things on her way out, having seen them from above before-hand helped with that. 

She pushed her way through the automatic entrance and hurtled down the nearest hall. Reaching out with her link with Green, she asked, "Where is the energy coming from?"

_ The large building in the west corner. Something powerful is stirring there.  _ Green said.

Pidge stopped at the fork in the hallway and caught her breath. "The lab? Why would there be Galrans _ there? _ " she asked, trying to remember which hallway she needed to take.

_ I do not know, but whatever the reason, it can't be good _ . Green replied.

Pidge nodded, and started heading down the left hallway, which she remembered led toward the Hangar and Laboratory area. She picked up her pace as she felt Green's anxiety course through her. The alarms weren't going off. That was either a good sign, or a very bad one.

She burst into the hangar area and was immediately hit by the sound of an echoing bang. Pidge tensed. The room was completely silent afterwards and she had no way of telling what was going on. Luckily, someone familiar spotted the short paladin, and called out to her.

"Pidge!" Her father's voice rang out, "Stay back! The Altean that was in the robeast awoke and is attacking the scientists!"

"What?" Pidge asked dumbfoundedly. She reached out with her left hand until she found Sam's arm, and asked him to point Pidge in the right direction. Sam shuffled her body a bit to the left, and then whispered, "About 10 paces that way. The garrison staff are on their way, but I'm not sure they'll get here in time. She's already incapacitated three people. She's one hell of a fighter."

Pidge nodded.. To her left, one of the scientests mumbled out, "Please, stop this! We're not going to hurt you, we just want to help."   
  
"LIAR!" The Altean spat, fury invigorating her posh accent, "That's just what the Galra said before they put me in that chamber! I'm never trusting another alien race." 

Pidge stepped forward a bit, and raised her hands in what was hopefully non-threatening gesture. "We're the ones that have been fighting the Galra this entire time! You're in the Garrison facility on Earth, home of the human race. I am the Green Paladin and I fly one of the Five Lions that strives to defeat the Galran empire, and bring peace to the universe. We fight under two Altean's guidance; Princess Allura of Altea, and her guardian, Coran. You are among friends here."

There was a long silence, in which the girl must've lowered her weapon because Pidge heard a few sighs of relief from the other scientists. Proving her theory, Samuel Holt came up and clasped a firm hand on her shoulder. "You did it Katie," he confirmed, "Well done."   
  
Pidge took a few more steps forward, and felt Sam's hand guiding her from the back, before reaching out her hand and saying, "My name's Katie Holt, what's yours?"

The girl hesitated, but then took her hand lightly in hers, and shook it. "Rima." she said stiffly. "Where are the other two alteans you mentioned?"

Pidge withdrew her hand carefully. "We'll have to call them here. They're in the briefing room right now." She turned back to her father and asked, "Dad, could you call them over here? And the other four paladins too."

"Of course, Katie." he murmured fondly. "Our guest ought to meet the biggest team of heroes in this universe." he bragged. Pidge grinned wildly as he sauntered off to complete his task, and then let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. 

"They'll be here soon." she assured the Altean.

"Thank you." she said softly. "I'm sorry for all the.. commotion I caused."    
  
"No sweat." Pidge replied with a laugh. "Me and my brother have pulled worse pranks on the Garrison." 

"Pranks-?" 

"Like, you know-"

"Pidge!" Pidge turned at the sound of her name, smile spreading as Lance's footsteps approached her. 

"Pidge?" Rima asked tersely.

"It's my alias." Pidge replied. "I used it to sneak into the Garrison here."

"Wow, you weren't lying about being a troublemaker."

As Lance finished his approach, they began laughing in unison. "What are you two going on about?" he cut in, then did a double-take when he saw Rima. "Wait- Aren't you the altean that was in the robeast?!"

"Yes, my name is Rima." The Altean stated. 

"Oh," Pidge bristled as she heard Lance's voice intentionally lower a few octaves in response to what was probably her beautiful appearance, "It's nice to meet you. My name's Lance, I'm the team sharpsh-"   
  
Pidge kicked him in the shins. "He's just our resident flirt." She filled in for him.

"Pidge-" Lance complained, but was cut short by his own best friend.

"Guys!!!" Hunk's voice interrupted from the east wing entrance, He was being followed by three, no, four sets of footsteps, all clattering against the floor in a violent hurry. It sounded as if he brought everyone: Coran, Allura, Keith, and Shiro.

"What happened down here?" Keith asked as he pushed his way toward the front of the group of friends. Pidge bridged her hands together behind her back, smiling widely.

"Our new Altean friend just woke up!" she answered. "We don't know how, or why it happened now, but after I arrived she listened to reason, and realized we weren't a threat." 

Lance hissed, "Show-off," under his breath. Pidge smirked anyway.

Behind her, Rima spoke up, looking earnestly at the group of newcomers. "Which of you are the two Altean survivors I was hearing about from Pidge? I've been very eager to meet you." 

Pidge could feel the confusion her question brought up. Didn't Altean's all have marks and pointed ears? 

It was Allura that answered the question. "I am one of them. But, could you not tell me apart from my human companions?"

"No." Rima stated simply. There was a small silence, and when it was evident that Rima wasn't going to expand on why, Allura cleared her throat.

"Why-" Allura began, but was swiftly cut off by a quick movement and a shout of surprise from Lance.

"You- you're just like Pidge!"

Pidge stiffened at the mention of her alias. She turned toward Lance, about to ask him what he meant, but listened on in shock as Allura voiced what Lance had been thinking. "You…. You're  **_blind_ ** ."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know s8 drops in December and we're probably going to get an answer on what this girl's real name is and all that but.. I've decided to kind of make up my own s8 plot lmao. So this can be regarded as my own take on the end of the series pretty muc. But I really just made it up on the fly, so I doubt it'll be as good as the real thing (minus the plance. Any plance fiction is better than the real thing or lack thereof lmao).


End file.
